Purported Nexus 7 renderings, spec leaked

Google is set to introduce the first Nexus branded tablet at its I/O conference later this week, but it seems someone has already spilled the beans.

Gizmodo Australia managed to get its hands on what appear to be official Nexus 7 renders, which show a compact 7-inch tablet with beveled edges, a relatively small bezel and a plastic backside. We are not entirely sure whether the images are legit. We guess Gizmodo would not fall for fakes that easy, but a grain of salt is advised. There's always a chance some 3ds MAX lover had too much time on his or her's hands.

The rumoured spec is in line with expectations. The Nexus 7 is powered by a 1.3GHz Tegra 3 SoC, it has 1GB of memory and it will sport either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage. No word on microSD though. If Google’s Nexus phones are anything to go by, we shouldn’t expect a microSD slot, but then again 8GB sounds pretty cramped in this day and age.

Unlike most 7-inch tablets, which sport 1024x600 screens, the Nexus is said to feature a 1280x800 unit, a resolution previously reserved for 10-inchers, so it should have pretty high pixel density, too. There’s no camera on the back, but Google opted for a 1.2-megapixel front facing camera for video conferencing. Battery life is said to be about 9 hours.

The 8GB version should retail for just $199, while the 16GB unit will go for $249. Jelly Bean is reportedly on board, but we still don’t know the exact availability dates. Unless the images are elaborate fakes, Google could have a game-changer on its hands. However, just 8GB of storage with no microSD expansion slot could be a deal breaker for quite a few consumers, but even the $249 version seems like a good deal.